Suspect in 2012 Baker crime spree gets life in prison

VICTORVILLE — A case jurors referred to as the “terror up I-15” has come to an end with the sentencing of the final defendant in a 2012 shooting and carjacking on Interstate 15 in Baker.

The “terror up I-15” is how Joen Mascari described the day of Oct. 30, 2012. The Victorville resident served as a juror in the trial of Ana Dimas, Reginaldo Acosta and Edwin Guerrero.

The trio was accused of robbery, carjacking and two counts of kidnapping while carjacking, stemming from their 2012 arrest. Guerrero, 19, and Acosta, 23, faced multiple attempted murder charges.

Acosta’s sentencing last week in a Victorville courtroom wrapped up the trial. Under the three strikes law, Acosta was sentenced to 431 years to life in prison on Aug. 15, according to Deputy District Attorney Mari Braun.

On May 21, the trio was found guilty multiple felony charges and acquitted of a robbery charge, court records show. On June 13, Dimas was sentenced to 65 years to life in prison and Guerrero, who was 17 at the time of the crime, was given 63 years to life in prison.

Mascari said after the verdict was read the defense’s attorney asked to speak with the jury outside the Victorville courtroom. According to Mascari, the jury asked the attorney why they did not accept a plea bargain. The attorney told the jury they were not offered a plea deal.

Earlier this week, Braun confirmed Acosta, Dimas and Guerrero were not offered a plea deal because of the “seriousness of the case.”

“Plea bargains are always offered on a case-by-case analysis, and these crimes were so traumatic to the victims that we didn’t feel that it would be appropriate to offer them a plea deal,” Braun said. “Based on conversations with the victims, they feel justice was served.”

Mascari said once the verdict of guilty was read, Dimas’ attorney passed her a box of tissue.

“She cried through the whole trial and was the only one that had family there with her during the trail,” Mascari said. “(Acosta) just seemed to puff his chest out. You just got the feeling they were really into the whole gang thing. I don’t know if it was the same attitude once they were sentenced.

“You just wonder, what was going on in their minds? Why would people do something that is just so pointless? They didn’t have a grudge against the victims. These people were just so violent. They had to have known they couldn’t get away with this. It’s so sad.”

The trio were arrested Oct. 30 following reports of an attempted robbery and shooting at the Shell gas station on Razor Road and I-15 in Baker. Witnesses told responding San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies that a Hispanic male demanded money from a male victim and shot the victim, who claimed to have no money, twice in the upper body. The suspect, another Hispanic male and a white female fled in a gold colored Honda on I-15.

Shortly thereafter, sheriff's dispatch was informed of a carjacking near the Bailey Road off-ramp on I-15, where three suspects allegedly forced their way into a 2007 Toyota Highlander occupied by the owner and his grandson on the side of the road.

The vehicle’s owner was shot in the fingers after he and one of the suspects fought in the back seat, as one of the suspects began driving the vehicle. The driver lost control of the vehicle after driving at high speeds and crashed into the runaway truck ramp near the Nipton Road off-ramp. The trio fled on foot as authorities searched the area.

Later that afternoon, Guerrero was found and transported to a hospital before being booked into Juvenile Hall. Acosta and Dimas, 24, were arrested that evening when a motorist reported seeing two people on the freeway near Yates Well, north of Nipton. They attempted to flee through the desert, but were apprehended by CHP and sheriff's deputies.

Mascari felt the trio did not even care about leaving a trail during their “terror rant” because there was “so much evidence against them.”

“There was nothing that the defense attorneys could argue, they had nothing to use in their favor,” Mascari said. “The grandfather and grandson kept saying to just take their car. If they would have just done that instead of beating him up and taking all of his money this would have never had happened like this. This crime was just so pointless.”

Jose Quintero can be reached at 760-256-4122 or JQuintero@DesertDispatch.com. You can also follow him on Twitter at @DD_JQuintero.